AI music generator Suno loses copyright infringement court battle
The landmark ruling was made by a German court last week in favour of performance rights organisation GEMA
AI music generator platform Suno has lost a copyright infringement case to German performance rights organisation GEMA, Reuters reports.
The landmark ruling was made by the Munich Regional Court in Germany on Friday, July 31, finding that Suno was not entitled to use music represented by GEMA to train its AI models.
The court ruled that the AI platform is in breach of both the German and US copyright law, and that it had used, stored and reproduced copyrighted material without licence, per Reuters.
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"Today, the Chamber made one thing crystal clear: AI models built on stolen intellectual property have no protection under the law," GEMA’s CEO, Dr Tobias Holzmüller, said in a statement following the victory.
"AI service providers must pay for licenses rather than helping themselves to our members’ works free of charge. Today, the court’s verdict has significantly strengthened Europe’s position as a cultural centre."
Suno will reportedly need to pay damages, the sum of which is still yet to be confirmed. The victory also means that AI companies must pay to licence material for the "systematic use of GEMA’s repertoire and its commercial exploitation," going forward.
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It marks the second court win for GEMA in the last year, following a November 2025 ruling in favour of the music collection company against ChatGPT operator OpenAI, which argued that it had violated European copyright laws.
Suno currently faces multiple court cases, including an unsettled legal battle with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME) over “mass” copyright infringement.
[Via Reuters]
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor
